The nine projects included the inauguration of the newly constructed institutional sports complex building at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, Sector 3, Panchkula, constructed at a cost of Rs 13.44 crore. The chief minister also inaugurated the much awaited, public bicycle sharing system, worth Rs 2.09 crore, spent by the corporation.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, inaugurated two projects and laid the foundation of seven development projects, worth Rs 93.29 crore, in Panchkula district on Wednesday.

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The nine projects included the inauguration of the newly constructed institutional sports complex building at Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex, Sector 3, Panchkula, constructed at a cost of Rs 13.44 crore. The chief minister also inaugurated the much awaited, public bicycle sharing system, worth Rs 2.09 crore, spent by the corporation.

He laid the foundation stone of the Jaswantgarh connectivity road. “An amount of Rs 634.91 lakh will be spent on the construction of this road and more than 10,500 people in Jaswantgarh and eight nearby villages will be benefited,” he said. The road, about three kilometers long, will be made 18 feet wide.

The work of widening and strengthening of the road from Guru Gobind Singh Marg to Taka Khatauli section, at a cost of Rs 896.16 lakh, was also flagged off.

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The foundation stone of the office building of the Municipal Corporation Panchkula was also laid. The building, which has been marred with controversy, will be constructed at a cost of Rs 4500.43 crore on an area of 2.09 acres at Sector 3.

The chief minister also laid the foundation stone of a community center to be built by the Haryana Urban Development Authority at Sector 21. The centre that will be constructed at a cost of Rs 547.29 lakh. The foundation stone of a park to be built on an area of 18 acres in Sector 24 was also laid. The park will built at a cost of Rs 8.80 crore.

The foundation of a milk processing unit was also set up. The unit will be constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore 80 lakh and will be equipped with a capacity to process 20000 liters of milk every day.

Speaking at a function in Panchkula, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar urged the BPL card holders, who have risen above poverty and no longer require government subsidy, to voluntarily give them up.

The chief minister distributed BPL cards to 527 persons of the district and also announced that the process for application of BPL cards has been made online.

Khattar said, with changing times, the circumstances of several families have also changed. Some people who were earlier included in the below poverty line category, may have improved and if such people, gave up their cards, they would give an opportunity to avail benefits to persons who actually need it.

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He said, BPL families are given priority in various schemes and are provided daily necessities like wheat, rice, sugar and mustard oil at a cheap price. Some of these schemes are run by the central government and some schemes implemented at the state level. He further highlighted that as many as one crore people had voluntarily given up their gas subsidy, after PM Modi urged them to give up the subsidy if they could afford the gas facility themselves.

Khattar alleged that ineligible people were included in the BPL list during the tenure of the previous governments, however the present government has made the BPL cards available to 56,000 new beneficiaries in a transparent manner. While 527 new beneficiaries have been included under the BPL category from Panchkula, over 1500 new beneficiaries have been added to the category from across the state.

Earlier, the state comprised 10 lakh 60 thousand BPL and WY ration card holders, which has increased to 11 lakh 16 thousand, with the addition of 56 thousand new beneficiaries. According to the revised regulations, families with a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000 will considered eligible for BPL cards, as compared to the limit of Rs 10,000 earlier.

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A state official alleged that several writ petitions and cases were filed in connection with wrongful allotment of BPL cards to non-deserving people, when the cards were made available in 2008. However, no such cases have surfaced till now in relation with the current allotment of the BPL cards.